Empirical Asset Management LLC Purchases New Holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Empirical Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 425 shares of the semiconductor company's stock, valued at approximately $268,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,979,293 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $4,630,424,000 after acquiring an additional 145,317 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its position in KLA by 32,828.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,419,000 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $2,647,708,000 after purchasing an additional 3,408,617 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of KLA by 3.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,221,694 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $2,487,971,000 after purchasing an additional 93,743 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 25.7% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,399,367 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,083,684,000 after buying an additional 286,015 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of KLA by 1.9% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,163,958 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $959,695,000 after buying an additional 21,412 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on KLAC. TD Cowen cut their target price on KLA from $760.00 to $725.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of KLA from $680.00 to $675.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of KLA from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $750.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a "neutral" rating and set a $925.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of KLA from $746.00 to $703.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, KLA has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $806.60.

KLA Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of KLA stock traded up $10.21 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $757.47. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,402,515 shares, compared to its average volume of 925,800. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.59, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.27. KLA Co. has a 1-year low of $577.00 and a 1-year high of $896.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $654.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $724.46.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.03 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.75 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 105.16% and a net margin of 28.92%. The firm's revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.74 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 30.37 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were given a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This is a boost from KLA's previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. KLA's payout ratio is currently 31.05%.

About KLA

KLA Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of process control, process-enabling, and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related electronics industries worldwide. It operates through three segments: Semiconductor Process Control; Specialty Semiconductor Process; and PCB and Component Inspection.